Tales From The Road
by ChiSoxBoy
Summary: Bob Cat, Butch Cassidy, and Chuck St. Claire are three good friends on a baseball team in the minor leagues. They all have an equally good chance of making it to the majors, but when one goes up before the other they start to see their friendship fall apa
1. Chapter 1

I boarded the 9:05 flight to New York to join the Steam Engines' minor league system. I will be starting out in Single A.

I picked up my bag and walked onto the entrance ramp and into the plane. It was a big plane but not as big as those planes you see at major airports. No, this is just a 50 passenger plane and I was lucky enough to get a tick for this time, much less get one at all.

Oh yeah, the name's Bob. I'm a pitcher with "Great Stuff" or so the scouts say. But that's enough about that, I need to tell you how I get there before all the "Great Stuff" talk.

The plane was just about to take off when a man came rushing onto the plane with his baggage and sat next to somebody about 5 aisles from me. He had a hat on and a camera around his neck, with a briefcase and an odd looking tie. _No big deal_ I said to my self, although he was a tad late.

With my bags in the cargo hold above my seat, I grabbed my pillow and laid back for the rest of the flight. No problem... It'll only take about 7 hours.

The plane landed and I waited until my row was the next to get off the plane. I surveyed what I could of the airport out of every passing window. It was much bigger than the one I had left from back in San Franbrisco County. The John F. Kennedy airport was giangantic, and had giant planes that miniaturized the one I was on now.

With a deep breath I stepped onto the exit ramp and into the giant waiting area. There were people with news papers, people talking, people sleeping. But the main flow of people were all around me. It was like one big haze of bodies moving around at the same time.

Slowly I entered the flow and walked my way out to the parking lot and awaited my cab.

After a minute or 30 the cab pulled up in front of me, I tossed my bags into the trunk and hopped in.

"Where to, kid?" asked the cab driver.

"Um... I need to get to the Steam Engines' ball park. I'm supposed to meet the manager there." I said.

"Steam Engines? Boy you're lucky you even got a cab. If you had said that to any other cabbie in this town you would've been kicked out of the thing for sure! The only team anybody cares about in New York is the Blow Torches. They've been champion for the past three years." explained the cab driver.

I sighed and clutched the handle getting ready to hop back out of the cab.

"But if that's where you need to go I'll take you there." He said.

"This is going to be great! Finally I get to play baseball..."


	2. Chapter 2

As I sat in the back seat I looked out the window at the buildings that flew by the cab. They were the biggest ever. Everything is big here compared to San Franbrisco.

"So, you expecting to play right away?" asked Kapp'n (who I found out was the cab driver by asking his name).

"Well I hope to start in the majors but I think the coach sees it another way, which is respectable I guess." I said to him.

The talk came to a halt as we pulled up in front of Railway Stadium, the home of the New York Steam Enignes.

Some rain started to drop when I opened the door. It was beautiful with the rain and the orange-red sky in the background. I had Kapp'n pop the trunk open so I could grab my stuff. I paid him the correct currency and he wished me good luck as I set off towards the players gate.

About a block from the front gate and behind the whole stadium was a parking lot with a steel fence.

"Welcome to the big leagues." said someone from behind me.

"Coach... Hi!" I yelled as I ran to him.

"Glad to see you so enthused. But that's got to change." He said as he popped some sunflower seeds into his pocket.

"Bob, right?" asked Lyle, the coach.

"Wha? Oh yeah, Bob... that's my name..." I finished.

Lyle led me to the players' entrance through the steel fence near the parking lot. The door was about another hundred feet away from where we were at the time but I couldn't wait any longer and shot off to the door.

"It's no use," said Lyle. "Can't open it without the key, which I have."

He held up the key, unlocked the door and gave it a shove.

The room was lined with benches and open lockers. The spaces between the benches were outlined by walls like an office cubicle. There were some doors marked

WHIRLPOOL ROOM

COACHES OFFICE

TUNNEL

All leading to even more rooms.

"Were going to start you off in Single A." broke Lyle from behind me. "I'm sorry. It just that Bill has played so good for us and we can't have his hot streak stop with a rookie standing there on second base."

"I understand, coach. Maybe I'll make some friends in the minors and we'll all come up together!" I exclaimed.

"That's the spirit! Now, about your contract. We're going to be paying you 200 bells per game in the minors. That's money including bus/train fares, hotel stay, and food. As you go up the ranks Double A, Triple A etcetera, your pay will increase a bit. Those sound good to you?" He asked.

I nodded and packed up my stuff.

I would have to wait awhile to reach the top, but I'll still be playing the game I love.


	3. Chapter 3

The last scene of the stadium left in my mind was riding away in Kapp'ns taxi and toward the train station.

A tear dripped down my eye as I came so close to my dream, only to have it taken away and sent to the minors.

_"At least I will get to make some friends"_ I thought to myself.

The rest of the ride to the train station was silent and full of talk radio. This was ok since they were reviewing the Steam Engines' minor league system and had mentioned my name: Bob Cat. That made me smile as I wafted to the land of dreams and slowly dozed off for an hour in the back of a 70 mph cab in the middle of the biggest city ever.

A few minutes until we got there Kapp'n nudged me awake and told me he was stopping to get gas. I hopped out of the cab and went in to grab a newspaper or something for the long train ride down to South Beach, Florida where the Air Hawks (My new team) played.

The door opened with the ringing of a bell and the clerk behind the desk smiled, waved, and said hello. I half-smiled back at him and walked over to the news rack to grab _Sports Illustrated_, the _New York Times_, and _USA Today's Sports Weekly_. All of them I enjoyed reading and liked the writers' style and opinions in the articles.

A quick stop to get a Pepsi and I checked out at the counter.

"You planning a long trip?" asked the clerk, (who I noticed had the badge _Tim Nook_ on his shirt) who he himself noticed that I had a few things-too-many.

"Yeah, sort of. I'm heading down to South Beach, Florida to play for the Air Hawks, a minor league team for the Steam Engines." I replied.

"You mean the _New York_ Steam Engines?" asked Tim.

"Yeah, them! You know of 'em?" I asked with a sheepish grin.

"Know of them? I'm their biggest fan! I have Bill Duckington's autograph! I have Boomer McFly's game used jersey baseball card! I even have their opening day program framed in my room! My dad even left me season tickets when he died and stranded me with his friend Tom Nook, who gave me and my brother, Tommy, his last name..." said Tim.

"Wow... sad story with such a big fan behind it! Tell you what... I'll upgrade your seats, from wherever you're sitting now, to seats behind home plate." I promised.

"WOW! I have upper deck seats right now..." he said, trailing off.

Tim finished checking my things and shoved them into a bag. It cost 20 Bells! _"That's crazy"_ I thought to myself as I walked back to the cab. I heard a faint whistle in the background as the train was pulling up to the tracks behind the gas station.

We arrived in a split second, I waved goodbye to Kapp'n (Who Ill see again, trust me) and boarded the train on the way to South Beach, Florida.


	4. Chapter 4

More whistles went off as I climbed aboard the train to Florida. Some monkey came and grabbed my luggage and I told him I wanted to hold onto the stuff I had obtained from the gas station.

I knew the train ride was going to be longer than the plane ride seeing that trains are much, much slower than planes.

The seats were nice and plush and red, while the storage hub above each row held very little I thought it to be quite nice.

The fluffing of a pillow was all I needed and I was off to dream land, until a very rude visitor woke me up.

"Hey! HEY! Wake up!" shouted someone from beside me.

"What the... Who the heck are you!?!" I asked, still startled from being awakened from me deep sleep at 3 in the morning.

"Oh, sorry. My names Rover! I'm the 'official' greeter of the train! I go around, check the luggage, and say hi to random people!" explained Rover with a dumb smirk.

"Yeah, that's nice..." I said as I rolled over and stuffed my head into the fluffy pillow.

He continued to poke me, and I continued to ignore him. After a few minutes he decided to _**jump on top of me**_ to wake me up!

"WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT!?!?!?!" I yelled in anger flipping him off the top of me knocking him into the aisle.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to talk." said Rover who was slowly getting up off the floor.

"I'm not going to get any more sleep than I already have," I said. "What do you want to talk about?" I asked as I rolled onto my back and propped myself up against the cold, frosty window of the slowly moving train.

"Let's start off with _your_ name."

"What about it?" I asked.

"What is it?" he said, unbelieving of the fact that he thought I didn't know my own name.

"Oh right, right... Bob Cat." I managed to say still half asleep.

The train whistled a soft _Toot!_ and the conductors voice came over the loudspeaker saying, "Now arriving in South Beach, Florida!"

"Whelp, this is my stop!" I said to Rover as I got up and took my things out of the storage hub above the seat. I stumbled to get my shoes on and warily walked around and up to the front of the train. I felt along the ground for a step down and finally struck gold. 2 more steps and I was there.

I was in Florida.

_"Next stop: Wherever the heck the Air Hawks' stadium is"_


	5. Chapter 5

Ok so I was lying, I know where the stadium is. About a mile down the road and then a half a mile to the left and BINGO you're there!

I arrived at the stadium and saw somewhere around 40 other players stretching on the field. Legs outstretched and joking around they all seemed very happy and relaxed to know they had a solid job for awhile. I, on the other hand, was very nervous meeting my coach for the first time.

"You Cat?" asked someone from the bleachers.

"Yes sir, Bob Cat, sir." I replied in my best manners trying to make a good impression.

"Go into the locker room and dress up. You're number 12, and you're our pitcher, for now." said the coach not even making eye contact.

My firt impression seemed better than his, but I'm a player and he's the coach. That was that and it will never change at any level of play that I go to.

I walked onto the grass and felt the warm cool green under my flip-flopped feet. It felt so nice as I walked towards the dugout. The only bad thing was that everybody on the entire team was eyeing me as I slowly walked into the club house. I felt the eyes leave my back and they all continued laughing and joking as I made my way to my locker.

The dressing room wasn't as nice as the ones in Railway Stadium, but they'd have to do for now.

I walked over to my locker and dropped my bags in front of it. I reached out my hand and took my black and red jersey off its hanger and felt the cotton in my hand and the stitched in number on the back. _"I've never worn 12. It's my lucky number though...'_ I thought as I put it on over my white long sleeved shirt. Trust me, a purple cat in a black and red jersey looks hot! But that's just me...

My cleats were laced up and I put on my glove to go out and join the team. In my pocket was what they call "Newcomers Chew". It's a mixture of bazooka gum and sunflower seeds. The rookie's aren't allowed to chew the real stuff so we made this up and it works out fine.

The bright orange Florida sun blared into my eyes as I walked into the dugout so I decided to put on my sunglasses. All the other players eyed me as I took my spot in the back near the rookies.

"You new?" asked one of the players.

"Yeah... I just came from San Franbrisco County in California." I explained.

"I'm Butch Cassidy." he said as he outstretched his hand.

I hesitated a bit then reached out mine and met his in the middle with a tug.

"What's your name?" asked Butch.

"Oh, I'm Bob Cat. I'm a pitcher!" I said although the way I said made me _really_ feel like a rookie.

The coach came out and started to talk.

"Afternoon boys," he said as he put on his cap. "How are you all doing? Oh wait... I don't care. We have a few new players on the team and when I call out your name I'd like you to stand up and tug on your cap." he told us as he paced infront of the front row.

"Cat."

I stood up and tugged my cap, feeling really stupid.

"Cassidy."

Butch stood up and tugged his cap.

"St. Claire."

A cow in the front stood up. Butch told me his name's Chuck.

"That's everybody. Why don't you all get acquainted and we can start practice." said Coach as he walked back into the dugout.

Everyone walked around shaking hands and talking when Chuck came up to Butch and I.

"Look's like were a union. The Rookies of South Beach Florida." he said with a chuckle.

We all shared a laugh as we realized we might remain teammates as well as a union for a long, long, time.


	6. Chapter 6

"Good... now that the 'love fest' is over," said the coach. "We can start on actually playing baseball."

The whole team let out a yell, well most of the veterans sighed a deep moan.

"'A' squad line up and we'll play a scrimmage game." instructed the coach.

9 players went to their respective positions and 9 others lined up on the first base line. The first in the row stepped up to the plate, as I noticed some scouts came filing into the bleachers behind me.

I was on the C squad so I wouldn't get a chance to play for maybe 3 hours.

The batter took up his stance and eyed the pitcher. The pitcher looked back at the batter, then to the catcher. He nodded as he got his pitch and slowly moved his body back up to an upright position. He checked his location and let the ball fly out of his hand with a slight arc towards the catchers glove. It landed with a pop in the catchers' glove.

"Strike one!" yelled the umpire from behind the plate.

I ran back into the clubhouse to grab my notebook so I could take some notes and be able to know what I was up against when I went up to bat, be it now or in the future.

I got back and sat in my spot in between Chuck and Butch.

"This guy has an arm..." whispered some scouts behind me. I paid no attention as I leaned over towards Chuck and whispered myself,

"Watch his head. However much he tilts it is how much break the ball will have. Just watch." I explained.

The pitcher got his sign again as I scribbled in my notebook _Cyrano tilits head, ball moves in same direction._. He gripped the ball tighter in his hand, I noticed, as he went into his delivery. The ball zoomed out of his hand and was clocked at 96 MPH. I heard some commotion in the stands as the scouts started clapping. One I thought looked familiar but couldn't place where I saw him last...

I moved my focus back to the field as the umpire yelled, "Strike two!" at the batter.

The pitchers face changed from dull to a slight grin as he was starting to have fun. The sign, the wind, and the delivery. "Steeeerike THREE!" yelled the ump. The catcher threw the ball "around the horn" as the pitcher started to laugh.

"_These guys do show emotion._" I thought to myself as I started to write where the pitch locations were in my notebook.

"_This is going to be a great season._" I thought, again, as I watched and took notes for the next 3 innings. Scrimmage games only last about 3 innings here because the coach wants everyone to get their work in. It was my turn to pitch in the 8th inning, so I put on my glove, my hat, and my sunglasses as I trotted out to the mound.

I slid the toe of my shoe back and forth next to the rubber and dug my fingers into the laces of the ball. I could feel the hot Florida sun beat down on my back as I stared in towards the catcher awaiting my sign for my pitch. I have 4 pitches, see. So whenever the catcher puts down 1, 2, 3, or 4 fingers that represent the pitch he wants me to throw. Sometimes catchers (if they think the runner on second base is stealing the signs) will change up the numbers or add math to it.

So say he puts down a 1 then a 3, I know to throw my fourth pitch, which, in this case, would be my slider.

Also catchers will tap the side of their legs to show which side of the plate they want the pitch to be on.

3, inside. Now I know to throw my circle-change up on the inside half of the plate.

I gripped the ball, toed the rubber, leaned forward pushing all my weight to my front foot and released the white object hurling it towards the batter.

It seemed to approach him in slow motion as it crept over the lush, green grass. It landed with a smack in the catchers' glove as the batter swung and missed.

"Strike ONE!" yelled the umpire.

The catcher threw the ball back as I caught it with a smile that reached ear-to-ear.

"_This..._" I thought, "_Will be an awfully big adventure._


	7. Chapter 7

Practice is finally over now, and we're about to start the season! See, I joined the team a little late... like... 3 days before the opener of the season. So now we're in our hotel and packing for the road trip!

Butch, Chuck and I all share a room. "The Rookie Room" is what the veterans call it. We always get to stay in room #666. And you know what _that_ stands for, right?

I was loading up my suitcase when Butch came bursting into the room.

"Guys!" he yelled. "David's sunflower seeds are half off at the gas station!" he yelled, again.

"All Right!" exclaimed Chuck and I in unison.

We all went rushing down the hallway of the hotel (on the 6th floor) and sailed down the elevator to the lobby. On the way out the front door, the whole team was still checking in. One of the players was sitting in a chair and asked,

"Where are you guys going?"

"Half... off... David's sunflower... seeds... at the... gas... station..." I said panting as I stood there. Everybody at the checkout counter looked at each other, dropped their stuff and yelled

"RUN!!!" as we all plowed our way through the revolving doors of the Embassy Suite.

"Why are they running?" asked our hitting coach, Wendell.

"Half off David's sunflower seeds at the 'ye old gas station'" said coach Chip.

Wendell looked at Chip in awe, then waddled his way out the front door yelling, "Wait for me, guys!" as he went.

We all reached the parking lot at the exact same time and leapt over the hedges blocking the two parking lots. I was the first to hit the pavement as I ran _lickety-sizzle_ to the gas station. The moment I got in the doors it was like an episode of Supermarket Sweep. Everybody went flying down the aisles in search for the 50-cent bags of David's.

"GOT EM!!!" somebody yelled from the snack aisle.

_"The snack aisle... DUH!"_ I thought to myself as I ran towards the voice.

Butch, Chuck and I all got to the rack in the exact time only to see... a blank white stick poking out of the wall.

"Daggummit." exclaimed Chuck as we stared in pure horror at nothing-on-a-stick.

"Now what?" asked Butch.

"Did you see what the rook's bought?" asked one of the players ahead of us.

"No, what did they get?" another asked.

They looked back and saw us walking out of the gas station with our sugar-free gum!

"Hey!" yelled on of the players. "Liking that... sugarless?" he joked.

"Just wait until I'm batting .300 and striking out 250 plus!" I yelled back.

What's wrong with sugar-free gum? It doesn't rot your teeth! It makes your breath smell good! But that's beside the point. We needed to finish packing.

"I just need my long-sleeved white shirt then I'll meet you on the bus." I told the guys. I shoved it into my suitcase and then started to make my way down the hall. The guys joined me in the lobby as I trotted towards the front desk to sign us all out.

"Hi, uh... we'd like to sign out and pay." I told the clerk.

She put a piece of paper on the marble slab and told me to put in our names.

_Cassidy, Cat, St. Claire._ I wrote on the paper. I handed it back over along with the key to our room. I decided to pay with a check seeing I had no cash. So I started to sign the check.

"Let me get this one." said Coach Chip from behind us. He walked up to the counter and handed the clerk a hundred dollar bill.

"Thanks... coach..." said Butch, still stunned that coach took up the tab. He walked out to the bus wordless and left us with a nod and the tip of his cap then shoved his way through the revolving doors.

"On to the bus!" we all exclaimed as we marched out the front door and onto our very first bus ride of the season.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where the heck do we sit?" I, Bob, whispered to Butch and Chuck.

"I have no idea." replied Chuck.

"I'll go ask Coach Wendell." said Butch

He walked over to Coach Wendell and asked where we were to sit on our long bus ride to Montana to play the Montana Mountaineers. Butch got his answer and rejoined Chuck and I in line.

"Coach says we sit... in the back!" he said.

"Dun-dun-dun..." joked Chuck.

The three of us shoved our way to the front of the line and jumped onto the bus running towards the back.

"Can we do that?" asked Butch.

"I guess so." I replied.

We sat in our respective seats as the rest of the team clambered into the 30 passenger yellow truck. Everybody was on the bus when the Coach Chip stood up before we took off and said,

"All right team," he began. "We have a very long trip ahead of us. 37 hours to be exact. And that's if we don't stop, period. I'm guessing that won't be happening since we all need to eat." he said, jokingly.

The team chuckled a bit as Coach continued,

"So in the case that we may need to get out and stretch, run, or eat this trip may end up taking around 50 hours."

The team let out a groan at Coach's bad "joke."

"There will be no swearing, period. And we will sleep on the bus,"

Another groan with a mix-in of laughter.

"But there is some good news. I'm paying for the food!"

A wave of clapping thundered toward the back row as Chuck decided this would be a good time to hide under his blanket. I poked him, and he poked me back.

"What are you doing?" I yelled over the barrage of applause.

"I'm hiding from the people who continue to repeatedly smack their hands together!" he replied.

All this time I kept thinking: _Why is Butch so quiet all of a sudden?_ I glanced over to his seat and saw something terrible. I flew out of my seat and down the aisle to Coach Chip.

"Butch passed out!"


	9. Chapter 9

I felt a light tapping on my shoulder as I turned to see Chuck was doing the tapping.

"Good! You're awake! It's time for breakfast!" he exclaimed.

_"Awake? I was... asleep? Where's Butch!?"_ I thought as I frantically scanned the bus for my friend. I could not locate him so I turned to Chuck.

"Where's Butch?" I asked kind of half yelling.

"He's inside eating..." he said. "What'd you think happened to him?" Chuck asked.

"Long story, lets skip it for now." I said as I walked out of the bus and into McDonalds.

"Finally! The rook awakes." joked some of the veteran players. I rolled my eyes as Chuck and I joined Butch at a booth.

"Hey guys!" said Butch.

"Good morning." I replied as I sat down. Some of the players came over and picked up our wallets.

"Hey! Put those down!" I yelled.

"Why should I?" the player asked.

"Because that's our money!"

"Oh is it?"

"Yes, it is! Now put it down!"

"I don't see a name on it... Why don't you go play in the play place _baby_"

I had had enough. I stood up, eyed him in the face, pulled back my arm, clenched my fist and _**POW!**_ I smacked him right in the jaw with a good jab.

"Cat!" yelled the coach.

"Yes sir?" I asked.

"Come..." he replied as he walked back to the bus.

I followed like a kid who has to go get a spanking. I knew I shouldn't have done that, but I had to stand up for my friends as well as my self.

My first punishment and I'm not even putting it in the chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

You'd think I would've but oh no!

I had walked out to the bus, still a little drowsy from my sleep.

"You're aware that what you did is not acceptable." said the coach.

I nodded.

"You should be punished but you don't know any better." he said again.

I nodded.

"I will not take anything out of your pay as punishment, but next time you will get 50 bells taken off. You understand?" he asked.

I nodded yet again as I walked into the McDonalds with a droopy smirk on my face. I sat down at the booth I had been sitting at before, and shook off the guys with my hand as they started to speak. I took my money up off the table and got back up to go and order.

"Hi, Id like a number 9 meal (Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle with a coffee and hash browns) please?" I asked as I took out 3 bells. The Crew Member walked back into the kitchen area to prepare my meal as I noticed a newspaper. I picked it up and paid for the paper, too. I threw away the rest of it and kept the Sports Section. My food was ready so I grabbed the tray and placed the paper on it as I walked to our booth.

I set the tray down as I plopped myself down staring the sports page. On the front it said: _Rookie Phenom Bob Cat Traded to Washington Cherry Pickers_.

"What's wrong?" asked Chuck.

I turned the paper around so the guys could see it. As I did Butch let out a little chuckle then his eyes were fixed on the headline and his smile turned to a dead grin.

"Th-Thats impossible..." stuttered Butch in shock.

"I'm going to talk to coach about this." I said as I stormed out of the booth and towards the bus. Before I even got there I started to talk.

"Sir, what is this about!?" I yelled.

"Cat, it's not what it seems." he replied.

"What!?! What're you talking about!?! I'VE BEEN TRADED!!!!" I yelled again.

"Cat."

"Yes sir." I panted, trying to keep myself calm.

"Turn around."

"Sir?"

"Just do it."

"Yes sir..."

I slowly turned around and the entire team was standing there.

"APRIL FOOLS!!!!" They yelled in unison.

"What the...?" I exclaimed. "What?"

"It's April First!" said Cyrano Komodo.

"Yeah, April Fools Day?" replied Claude Jefferson.

"I know the holiday... but its March 24th..." I said.

The whole team blushed in shock.

"April Fools!" I yelled!

They all laughed again as they went inside.

I turned to coach, "It really is March 24th."

Then I went back inside to join my friends for breakfast.


End file.
